Coronavirus / Government extends business support scheme
A SIGNIFICANT number of small business owners and people who have only recently become self-employed have reason to breathe a sigh of relief this morning (Wednesday) after the Scottish Government announced changes to its coronavirus business support scheme.
Finance secretary Kate Forbes announced over night that a further £220 million in grant funding will be made available, and distributed through local authorities.
This is on top of the £2.2 billion programme passed on from the UK government that was announced at the start of the crisis.
Politicians and business organisations have been lobbying government(s) over recent weeks pointing out the shortcoming of some of the schemes put forward. The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the decision on Wednesday morning.
Forbes said the government had been working on filling the gap of the UK scheme, and has now announced a “second phase” of funding to protect against the effects of Covid-19.
£120 million will be made available to extend the Small Business Grant scheme to ensure that, in addition to a 100 per cent grant on the first property, small business rate payers will be eligible to a 75 per cent grant on all subsequent properties.
The addition of subsequent properties to the scheme in Scotland comes after Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said the original set-up – one grant per business – unfairly affected companies with a number of branches.
A further £100 million fund is being made available to protect self-employed people and viable micro and SME businesses. This fund will be channelled through local authorities and enterprise agencies to target newly self-employed people and businesses that are ineligible for other government schemes.
The Scottish Government said that applications for the £100 million fund would be open by the end of the month, and the new arrangements for the Small Business Grant by 5 May.
“We are doing everything we can to support business at this difficult time and we continue to listen to and engage with the sector,” Forbes said.
“Around 100,000 businesses in total are already eligible for our small business grants and from today we will be extending that scheme in response to feedback from businesses on the frontline of this economic crisis.
“The creation of a £100 million fund is to help those micro and SME businesses who face immediate cash flow challenges, are ineligible for other schemes and are the productive base for supporting employment in the future.
“It will also support those newly self-employed people who are also ineligible for UK schemes and will be a vital lifeline for many businesses and individuals across Scotland.”
“Just as we ask the public only to buy what they need in the supermarkets, we are asking businesses who do not need this vital help to refrain from claiming additional support unless absolutely necessary so we can direct as much help as possible to those who need it most.”
The FSB’s Highlands & Islands development manager David Richardson said: “The remote, rural nature of much of the Highlands & Islands means that we have a higher proportion of self-employed workers than elsewhere in Scotland, and we also have a higher proportion of our workforce engaged in tourism-related businesses.
“There is no doubt that this region is more vulnerable economically to the damage caused by the current crisis than many other parts of the UK, and protecting local businesses and communities is vitally important.
“While we don’t know all the details yet, these new Scottish Government measures, which come after campaigning from the FSB, will undoubtedly help a great many Highlands & Islands businesses and the self-employed, and, by extension, the fragile communities in which they live and operate.”
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